Ghost In The ATM

Taylor Buley
, ContributorNews developer, in all senses of the phraseOpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas--unless of course, somebody steals your identity.

At Defcon, numerous presentations discussed various cybersecurity threats. But one of the biggest scams wasn't happening in the conference--it was happening in the casino at the Riviera Hotel.

On Thursday, a Defcon attendee spotted a fake ATM nestled in a security blind spot at the hotel. The machine had an unbranded shell with a PC located inside. It's believed that the setup was designed to skim ATM cards. It is unknown how long the machine was there, or whether there are other fake ATMs in other casinos.

"This is a very common scam," says "Priest," a senior staff member for Defcon. "At gas stations, this happens a lot."

The person, who asked not to be named because he does not want to be associated with hackers, said he was able to identify the machine because its LED light was the wrong color and the Plexiglas was a little too dark.

The machine has since been removed and sent to police authorities, but the incident serves as a reminder that physical credit card fraud is as real a threat as the cybersecurity issues raised at the conference.